Lantern.



PATENTED OUTn 17 1905. No 802,085 A P. PRAHMI LANTERN.

APPLICATION FILED JULY 5,-1904.

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PATENT OFFICE.

ADOLPH F. PRAHM, OF INDIANAPOLIS, INDIANA.

LANTERN.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Oct. 17, 1905.

Application filed July 5, 1904. Serial No. 215,298.

To all whom it non/y concern;

Be it known that I, ADOLPH F. PRAHM, a citizen of the United States, residing at Indianapolis, in the county of Marion and State of Indiana, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Lanterns, of which the following is a specification.

In the maintenance of railway-signals, especially in yards, distant block-signal points, and other places, the cost of maintenance can be materially lessened if provision can be made for continuous burning of lamp-signals for a considerable periodsay a week or such matterso that a single attendant may be able to care fora large number oflamps. With an ordinary burner, where the flame is maintained atthe upper end of the wick, such longcontinued maintenance of the light without attention has been found to be impossible, owing to the charring of the wick. Difliculty has also been experienced in attempts of this kind in the supply of fuel, it having been found that if an oil-reservoir be of sufficient depth to hold the requisite quantity of fuel it will be so deep as to make it impossible for the wick to draw up the lower portions of the fuel when the fuel has been nearly exhausted. The object of my invention is, therefore, to produce a lamp or lantern in which it is possible to maintain a continuous flame for a long period of time; and to that end my invention consists in an improved burner and also in the provision and arrangement of a supply-reservoir and in such improvements in details of construction as shall be hereinafter pointed out.

The accompanying drawings illustrate my invention. Figure 1 is a vertical section of a standard signal lantern equipped with my improvement; Fig. 2, a vertical section of my improved burner, and Fig. 3 a section on line 3 3 of Fig. 2.

In the drawings, indicates the main body of the lantern of any desired type, adaptedto receive the lamp-body 11. such size as to hold afair supply of fuel and is provided with an opening 12, into which is inserted the lower end of a feed-tube 13, which at its upper end is connected with a valvecasing 14, which is carried by and communicates with the lower end of an annular fuelreservoir 15. The annular reservoir is arranged to fit in the upper end of the body 10, and in the present instance rests upon the This body 11 is of flanges 10, which surround the usual bullseyes. The valve-casing 14 may be provided with any suitable form of valve by means of which the passage of fuel from the reservoir 15 into the feed-tube 13 may be regulated, in the drawings this valve being shown as a common needle-valve 16, provided with a stem 17,

which leads up through the reservoir and is threaded at its upper end and engaged by a suitable adjusting thumb-nut 18, frictionally held in position by a light spring 19. In order to prevent turning of the "alve and its stem, the upper end of the casing 14 is provided with a pair of opposed vertical slots 20, through which the fuel may pass to the interiorof the casing, and a pin 21 is passed through the valve 16 and has its ends projected into the slots 20. The reservoir 15 is made annular in order to permit proper ventilation and air-supply for the flame. In the type shown the air comes in through the openings 22 in the cap 23 and passes down through the annulus, as indicated by the arrows, and in order to make proper connections with the proper ventilating-jack 24, which forms a part of the cap 23, and which is described and fully claimed in my Patent No. 698,053, I arrange the tube 25, which is suitably supported concentric with the annular reservoir 15, and is provided at its lower end with a bell 25, which .lies above the burner carried by the main lamp-body 11. The tube 25 fits the proper portion of the jack 24, but is easily separable therefrom, as is clearly indicated in the drawings.

The provision of the feeding-reservoir, together with the means by which the flow therefrom to the main lamp-body may be regulated,

materially assists in lengthening of time of operation of lamp, but does .not of itself pro duce desired results if the burner is of such character that the upper end or active portion of the wick becomes charred. I have discovered that if a wick of ordinary construction have its upper end downturned into the lamp or burner and the wick be arranged Within the burner so that the flame originates from the doubled portion, or rather from the line of doubling, charring is eliminated, or at least materially delayed. I therefore have provided the burner shown in Figs. 2 and 3. Here the main hollow body is of any desired and usual construction and provided with a lower end 31, which fits the upper end of the main body. 11. Passing through the body 30 is the wick-tube 32,

which may be of such size as to be completely filled by the wick 33 in the usual well-known manner, so that the wick may be fed and adjusted therethrough by the usual feeding means 34. The tube 32 instead of leading up to the mouth of the cap 35 ends considerably below said mouth. Forming a continuation from the upper end of tube 32 is the larger tube 36, which is of the same or substantially the same internal width as tube 32, but is of twice the thickness, as is clearly shown in Figs. 2 and 3, so that the upper end of the wick may be downturned into the tube 36,

thus presenting an intermediate portion of the wick to the position for the generation or point of emanation of the flame.

So far as I am aware burners have heretofore been provided with vertical wick-tubes; but in each case the wick to be used with such burner has always been of such size as to completely fill the tube, and so far as I am aware no attempt has heretofore been made to present anything but the end of a wick to the line of emanation of the flame. The construction shown in the drawings produces entirely satisfactory results; but the inner vertical wicktube may be made of sufficient dimensions to permit the wick to be doubled throughout its entire length, but in that case difliculty would probably be experienced in vertical adjustment, whereas in the form shown no such difliculty is experienced. I am unable to give the precise reason for the result obtained by the presentation of an intermediate portion of the wick, but actual tests have proven beyond doubt that the result describedis attained and that the burner made in the manner described or in any manner as to permit the doubling of the wick throughout the entire length will permit continuous burning of a lamp for more than a week without attention and Without charring the wick, while the use of the end of the same kind of a wick under the same conditions will produce charring, and

consequently will be unreliable in less than thirty-six hours. I

The bell 35 instead of being made in the usual manner is preferably flared at its upper end in the direction of width of the wicktube, as shown at 37 in Fig. 2, and a bridgeplate 38 run from the outer ends of the opening thus formed downward and inward, so as to engage the tube 32 at its ends, and thus prevent air from passing upward through the bell at the ends of the flame, but instead compels the air to pass upward at the sides of the flame only.

I claim as my invention-- l. A lamp-burner having a wick-tube provided with a main lower portion and an upper portion which is enlarged to at least double the cross-section of the main portion, combinedwith the wick, the main body of which extends through the lower portion of the tube and the upper end of which is turned down closely against the main body of the wick in the enlarged portion of the tube, whereby the flame burns from the looped portion of the wick which extends from the enlarged portion of the Wick-tube.

2. A lamp-burner having a wick-tube provided with a main lower portion and an upper portion which is enlarged to substantially double the cross-section of the main portion, combined with a wick having a single thickness extending through the lower portion of the tube, and the upper end turned down closely against the main body of the wick. in the enlarged portion of the tube, whereby the flame burns from the looped portion of the wick which extends from the enlarged por tion of the wick-tube.

In witness whereof I have hereunto set my hand and seal, at Indianapolis, Indiana, this 1st day of July, A. D. 1904.

' ADOLPH F. PRAHIVL [L. s]

Witnesses:

ARTHUR M. H001), JAMES A. WALSH. 

